As noted on Northern Virginiastan, the Muslim American Society is the front for the Muslim Brotherhood in the U.S. Shaker el Sayyed, who was recently named imam at Dar Al Hijrah mosque AKA the 9/11 mosque, has served as Secretary-General of the Muslim American Society. Both el Sayyed and Imam Johari Abdul-Malik supported aspring presidential assassin Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, whose trial began today.

"This hearing would have exposed Saudi support for the wrathful dogma of Wahhabism, the rejection of the co-existence of different religions and condemnation of Christians, Jews, and all other non Muslims. It would have revealed their attempts to instill contempt for America and its non Wahhabi-style of government.

"Witnesses called by the Judiciary Committee to testify were former CIA director Jim Woolsey, Steve Emerson of The Investigation Project and several U.S. Islamic community advocates. These are highly informed experts who have information that our policy makers need to hear."

"...The reason this question deserves urgent attention should be obvious: Since November 2001, there has been a roughly three-fold increase in the price of a barrel of oil, from $18 to as much as $70. As a result, Saudi Arabia -- which currently exports about 10 million barrels per day -- receives an extra half-billion dollars every day from oil-consuming nations.

"If even a fraction of that $500 million in found-money -- to say nothing of the other resources of the Saudi kingdom -- is being put in the service of our Islamofascist enemies, we are likely to face an even more serious problem in the future than we do today.

"As today's Judiciary Committee hearing would surely have demonstrated, it is a safe bet that a significant portion of the Saudis' petro-windfall will be put in the hands of Islamist totalitarians bent on our destruction. That is not simply because Saudi Arabia has long had ties to Islamofascist terrorists, however.

"Worse yet, the Saudis are themselves the wellspring of Sunni Islamofascism....

"Had the hearing not been cancelled, senators would have received powerful evidence of the Saudis' true colors. From former Clinton CIA Director James Woolsey and a member of the International Religious Freedom Commission, Nina Shea, they would have heard the breathtaking results of a study performed earlier this year by Freedom House. It indisputably demonstrated that the Saudi government has been directly responsible for putting materials rife with jihadist propaganda and incitement in American mosques.

"From Yigal Carmon, the founder of the highly-respected Middle East Media Research Institute, legislators would have seen videos of similar hate-mongering that represents standard fare on Saudi television. (It is to be hoped that, when the hearing is held, senators will examine whether such material will now be beamed directly into the United States via DirecTV. This would appear to be the upshot of a deal whereby a controversial Saudi prince, Al-Waleed bin Talal, purchased more than 5 percent of the voting stock of the satellite company's parent and of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, parent of Fox News. (See this).

"And from Steven Emerson, world-renowned anti-terrorism expert, senators doubtless would have heard chilling details about the Saudi footprint in America. The mosques, schools (madrassas), student organizations, Muslim-American and Arab-American agitation operations, businesses and recruitment operations -- notably in U.S. prisons and the military -- that are funded and dominated by Islamist Saudi Wahhabis...."

At the same time, while our elected officials are delaying hearings, the United American Committee (UAC), a nonpartisan and diverse group whose focus is Islamic extremism in the United States, is distributing the following material to the Muslim community:

Addressed to the Islamic community of America

NINE DANGER SIGNS OF MILITANT ISLAM

1. Justification of any Islamic Terrorism, Palestinian or otherwise

2. Supporting or refusing to condemn Osama Bin Laden, Al Qaeda, Hamas, or other terrorists or terrorist organizations by name

3. Promoting jihad for Muslims to fight against what they determine is "injustice" or "aggression"

4. Demands for Sharia law in the West, or denying that Sharia forbids equal rights for women and members of religions other than Islam

5. Demanding that Americans accommodate the public expression of Islamic laws, customs, and practices that conflict with, or are harmful to American laws, customs, and practices

6. Denying that Muslims were involved in the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and other attacks around the world

7. Refusal to cooperate with or inciting others not to cooperate with authorities or standard security procedures

8. Branding progressive Muslims or Muslims of different opinions as apostates.

9. Refusal to interact, converse, or socialize with non-Muslims.

Peace-loving Muslims everywhere agree on the need to be alert for any incitements to hate, violence, religious intolerance, or outright lying. We need your help to keep Islam a religion of peace.

One hopes that the laudable words of the above UAC material is interpreted without the nuances of "Differing Definitions." According to Islamic leader Sayyid Qutb,

"When Islam strives for peace, its objective is not that superficial peace which requires that only that part of the earth where the followers of Islam are residing remain secure."

And the last section of the Koran to be revealed contains Sura 9:5, which, back in the fourteenth century, was interpreted as follows:

"Mainstream and respected Qur'an commentator, Isma'il bin Amr bin Kathir al Dimashqi (1301-1372), known popularly as Ibn Kathir, declares that sura 9:5 'abrogated every agreement of peace between the Prophet and any idolater, every treaty, and every term....No idolater had an more treaty of promise of safety ever since Surah Bara'ah was revealed.'"

Furthermore, a search of the web sites of CAIR and MAS, two of the most prominent Muslim groups in the United States, indicates no support or endorsement of either the Senate hearings or the efforts of the UAC. But both CAIR and MAS are staunch advocates of Sign 5:

"Demanding that Americans accommodate the public expression of Islamic laws, customs, and practices that conflict with, or are harmful to American laws, customs, and practices."

So, do we see a Sign 10 to add to "Nine Danger Signs of Militant Islam"? In spite of more than four years having passed since 9/11, our elected representatives refuse to take decisive steps in investigating Saudi Arabia's support of terrorism.

Saturday, October 22, 2005

Our neighbor in Central/Southern Virginia and compatriot Baron Bodissey of Gates of Vienna challenges the conventional wisdom that there has been no terrorist attack on US soil since 9/11 by viewing the killings by "Beltway Snipers" John Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo as Islamic terrorism. The MSM did not pursue this angle of the DC sniper story, although people like Michelle Malkin did.

The Baron has garnered a lot of attention throughout the blogosphere lately through his daring effort to get first-hand reporting on Jamaat ul-Fuqra's compound in southern Virginia.

Ramadam-a-ding-dong! My friend The Adventuress notes the article Teaching teachers about Islamic faith from the Baltimore Sun about dawah-ganda in Maryland public schools, right on the heels of the closure of the Fort McHenry and Harbor Tunnels due to terror threats.

An FBI doctor testified Monday that he found no significant scars on the back of a U.S. citizen who claims that Saudi police whipped and tortured him into falsely confessing he joined al-Qaida and plotted to assassinate President Bush.

Prosecutors allege Ahmed Omar Abu Ali joined al-Qaida in 2002 while enrolled in a college in Saudi Arabia. They say he confessed to plotting Bush's assassination along with other terrorist acts, including plans to establish an al-Qaida cell in the United States and to rescue of Muslim prisoners detained at Guantanamo Bay.

Defense lawyers are scheduled to begin presenting their case today in the pretrial hearing at which U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee must decide whether Abu Ali's confession to the Saudis is admissible at trial.

His attorneys want the confession thrown out. They argue that the 24-year-old falsely confessed after being tortured and whipped by the Saudis, and they say U.S. authorities were complicit in the torture.

Friday, October 14, 2005

"WASHINGTON - The American government is demanding that Saudi Arabia account for its distribution of hate material to American mosques, as the State Department pressed Saudi officials for answers last week and as the Senate later this month plans to investigate the propagation of radical Wahhabism on American shores.

"The flurry of activity comes months after a report from the Center for Religious Freedom discovered that dozens of mosques in major cities across the country, including New York, Washington, and Los Angeles, were distributing documents, bearing the seal of the government of Saudi Arabia, that incite Muslims to acts of violence and promote hatred of Jews and Christians.

"A Washington-based group that is part of the human rights organization Freedom House, the Center for Religious Freedom also found during its yearlong study that the Saudi-produced materials describe democracy and America as un-Islamic. They instruct recent Muslim immigrants to consider Americans as enemies and the materials urge new arrivals to use their time here as preparation for jihad. The documents also promote the version of Islam officially embraced by Saudi government and several of the September 11, 2001, hijackers, Wahhabism, as the only authentic Islam.

"In response to the Freedom House report and as part of the Saudi Arabia Accountability Act of 2005 sponsored by Senator Specter, a Republican of Pennsylvania, the Judiciary Committee - of which Senator Specter is chairman - will be holding hearings into the hate materials on October 25, a spokesman for the senator, William Reynolds, said yesterday.

"The Accountability Act, introduced in June, says its purpose is 'to halt Saudi support for institutions that fund, train, incite, encourage, or in any other way aid and abet terrorism, and to secure fully Saudi cooperation in the investigation of terrorist incidents.' The legislation is highly critical of the House of Saud for its support of terrorist activity and cites the January Freedom House report as evidence of the kingdom's complicity in the spread of radical Islamist ideology.

"As part of the Accountability Act, Senator Specter has in the past held Judiciary Committee hearings into Saudi financing of terrorism and Saudi Arabia's role in injecting ideology into textbooks for Palestinian Arab schoolchildren.

"Many of the details of the Judiciary Committee hearing later this month, Mr. Reynolds said, are still being arranged, including a final witness list. In the meantime, the committee expects testimony from the State Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Freedom House, and terrorism experts. The committee will press to determine whether the Saudi government has taken steps to stop the distribution of the materials, and will cull from witnesses recommendations to prevent their future dissemination, Mr. Reynolds said.

"Also demanding answers about the hate materials is the State Department's undersecretary for public diplomacy and public affairs, Karen Hughes. During a high-profile trip to the Middle East last week, Ms. Hughes said American representatives had addressed the propagation of Saudi hate material in America during private meetings with government officials.

"In a State Department briefing held en route to Ankara, Turkey, from Saudi Arabia last Tuesday, Ms. Hughes was asked why she had raised the issue that day during a public meeting with Saudi journalists, becoming the first Am'rican official to do so publicly. 'We had been raising the issue privately,' Ms. Hughes said, 'and as part of raising difficult issues that we need to discuss, I felt it was appropriate.' The undersecretary did not elaborate on the results of the private meetings, but the degree to which Saudi Arabia is making efforts to stop the propaganda will be a subject of the Senate hearings, Mr. Reynolds said.

"Requests for comment from the Embassy of Saudi Arabia yesterday were not returned."

According to Daniel Pipes, the report from Freedom House, an organization which sent Muslim volunteers into fifteen prominent mosques throughout the United States and collected materials disseminated by Saudi Arabia, shows that the following points are expounded in the distributed materials:

"Reject Christianity as a valid faith: Any Muslim who believes 'that churches are houses of God and that God is worshiped therein is an infidel.'

"Insist that Islamic law be applied: On a range of issues, from women (who must be veiled) to apostates from Islam ('should be killed'), the Saudi publications insist on full enforcement of Shariah in America.

"See non-Muslims as the enemy: 'Be dissociated from the infidels, hate them for their religion, leave them, never rely on them for support, do not admire them, and always oppose them in every way according to Islamic law.'

"See America as hostile territory: 'It is forbidden for a Muslim to become a citizen of a country governed by infidels because this is a means of acquiescing to their infidelity and accepting all their erroneous ways.'

"Prepare for war against America: 'To be true Muslims, we must prepare and be ready for jihad in Allah's way. It is the duty of the citizen and the government.'"

And while the Senate is taking a look at Saudi-funded materials distributed to mosques in the United States, perhaps scrutiny of certain Muslim schools should also be undertaken, starting with the nearby Islamic Saudi Academy, from which valedictiorian Ahmed Abu Ali, accused of conspiring with Al Qaeda to assassinate President Bush, graduated. According to this site:

"A few miles outside of Washington and a stone's throw from Mt. Vernon Plantation - George Washington's home - the Saudi government is teaching Wahhab Islam to hundreds of Muslim-American children. The school, called the Islamic Saudi Academy, is one of an estimated 200-600 in the U.S. that indoctrinate 30,000 students in the teachings of Koran...."

On February 25, 2005, the Washington Post published the following information in an article entitled "Where Two Worlds Collide":

"Eleventh-graders at the elite Islamic Saudi Academy in Northern Virginia study energy and matter in physics, write out differential equations in precalculus and read stories about slavery and the Puritans in English.

"Then they file into their Islamic studies class, where the textbooks tell them the Day of Judgment can't come until Jesus Christ returns to Earth, breaks the cross and converts everyone to Islam, and until Muslims start attacking Jews....

'With two lavish campuses in suburban Virginia, dozens of highly qualified teachers and accreditation from two respected organizations, the Islamic Saudi Academy stands out among Muslim schools in the Washington area.

"The academy educates the children of Arabic-speaking diplomats along with other children of differing heritages -- about 1,300 students altogether. But the financial support from the Saudi government brings with it a curriculum that reflects the particularly rigid strain of Islam practiced there, Muslim educators say.

"'One of the things the community has been concerned about for years is the Saudi influence and Saudi money,' said Amir Hussain, a California professor who has researched Muslim communities in North America. 'You have people who come in and say, "Hey, I'll build you a school." Then people begin to realize, if that school gets built with Saudi money, do we want that kind of curriculum?'

"The Islamic Saudi Academy does not require that U.S. history or government be taught, offering Arabic social studies as an alternative. Officials there said that only Saudis who intend to return home do not take U.S. history, though a handful of U.S.-born students who plan to stay in this country said they opted against it, too.

"School officials would not allow reporters to attend classes. But a number of students described the classroom instruction and provided copies of textbooks.

"Ali Al-Ahmed, whose Virginia-based Saudi Institute promotes religious tolerance in Saudi Arabia, has reviewed numerous textbooks used at the academy and said many passages promote hatred of non-Muslims and Shiite Muslims.

"The 11th-grade textbook, for example, says one sign of the Day of Judgment will be that Muslims will fight and kill Jews, who will hide behind trees that say: "Oh Muslim, Oh servant of God, here is a Jew hiding behind me. Come here and kill him."Several students of different ages, all of whom asked not to be identified, said that in Islamic studies, they are taught that it is better to shun and even to dislike Christians, Jews and Shiite Muslims.

"Some teachers 'focus more on hatred,' said one teenager, who recited by memory the signs of the coming of the Day of Judgment. 'They teach students that whatever is kuffar [non-Muslim], it is okay for you' to hurt or steal from that person...

"None of the academy's officials would publicly address the students' statements. One, who spoke anonymously, said he had no knowledge of intolerant passages being assigned or intolerant views being taught. He said textbooks with such passages would be replaced soon....

"The schools are legally allowed to teach whatever they want -- as long as they meet state requirements -- but have a responsibility to be accurate, scholars say.

"'As a matter of educational policy, no, it's not a good idea to cross a nation off the map or to in any way misrepresent history,' said Charles Haynes, of the First Amendment Center in Arlington. 'It is a civic responsibility of all schools, religious and secular, to do the best job of educating students to a variety of perspectives...."

Additional information about Islamic schools in North American can be found hereand here, both of which have links to explore.

"At the Mohave Middle School in Scottsdale, Arizona, students who took a 7th-grade social-studies course during the 2004-2005 school year were subjected to gross, prolonged indoctrination in Islam.

"Much of the indoctrination was delivered in a corrupt schoolbook titled History Alive! The Medieval World and Beyond, produced by a commercial publishing company that calls itself the Teachers' Curriculum Institute (TCI). The writers of History Alive! The Medieval World and Beyond, by relentlessly presenting Muslim religious tales and religious beliefs as matters of historical fact, have striven hard to induce students to embrace Islam."

Apparently, mosques aren't the only locations for promoting Islamification.

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

"During the Beltway Sniper crisis, back in the fall of 2002, a series of articles in The WashingtonTimes described John Allen Muhammad’s conversion to Islam, and his later break with the Nation of Islam (the articles are no longer available, but extracts have been preserved here). Apparently the NOI was not militant enough for Mr. Muhammad, and he left it to become involved with a group called Jamaat ul-Fuqra (Arabic for “community of the impoverished”), a terrorist organization....

"The group was founded in New York by Sheikh Gilani in New York in 1980. Its current headquarters is in Hancock, New York, and it has various compounds, or Jamaats, scattered throughout the United States and Canada, notably in Colorado, New York, Tennessee, Georgia, and Virginia. Most of the adherents are reported to be American-born Black Muslims who follow a strict Islamist ideology.

"Sheikh Gilani, you may remember, is the cleric with whom Daniel Pearl had arranged an interview back in January of 2002. Unfortunately, Mr. Pearl was betrayed by his sources, and then abducted and beheaded. Sheikh Gilani was arrested later that month and languishes in Pakistani custody...."

The article goes on to mention the organization's numerous jihad operations in North America in the 1980's and 1990's, involvement in the planning of the 1993 WTC bombing (Clement Rodney Hampton-el, convicted for connections to the 1993 WTC, was a member of Jamaat al-Fuqra), and possible connections to Richard Reid of shoe-bomber notoriety. Also of note here is that Jamaat al-Fuqra is active within the prisons of various states.

Read the entire article, complete with photos, here. As the Baron has entitled his article "Part I," we can probably look forward to at least one update.

"DUBAI - Al Qaeda frontman in Iraq Abu Musab Al Zarqawi has said Islam permits the killing of 'infidel' civilians, according to an audiotape broadcast on the Internet early Saturday.

“'In Islam, making the difference is not based on civilians and military, but on the basis of Muslims and infidels,' said the voice attributed to the fugitive leader who has a 25-million-dollar price on his head.

“'The Muslim’s blood cannot be spilled whatever his work or place, while spilling the blood of the infidel, whatever his work or place, is authorized if he is not trustworthy,' said the tape, whose veracity could not be determined.

"The recording comes a day after US officials claimed to have seized a letter allegedly sent to Zarqawi by Al Qaeda number two Ayman Zawahiri, in which he raised concerns over the impact on Arab opinion of videotaped executions.

"Zarqawi, a Jordanian-born Islamist extremist, is Iraq’s most wanted man.

"His Al Qaeda Group of Jihad in the Land of Two Rivers has claimed responsibility for some of the most gruesome attacks in Iraq, including the beheadings of foreign hostages and Iraqis."

Zarqawi's words indicate a definition which differs from a Western one and help to explain why after 9/11 many Muslims literally danced for joy. Those who died here on 9/11--the men, women, and children we perceived to be innocent victims, were not innocent in the eyes of Islam.

Certainly, Islamic extremists define innocent in the same way as Zarqawi. According to Ali Hussain, investigative reporter for London's Sunday Times, as reported by Daniel Pipes:

"Ali joined the Saviour Sect in June, a few weeks before the 7/7 bombings and took along his tape recorder. What he heard is hair-raising – it is imperative for Muslims to 'instil terror into the hearts of the kuffar [infidels],' 'I am a terrorist. As a Muslim, of course I am a terrorist,' 'They will build tall buildings and we will bring them down,' the bombings were 'a good start' and Allah should 'bless those involved.'

"He also heard two speakers discuss whom they consider to be innocent.

"Zachariah, referring to the London passengers: 'They're kuffar [infidels]. They're not people who are innocent. The people who are innocent are the people who are with us or those who are living under the Islamic state.'

"Omar Bakri Mohammed, the sect's leader, who publicly condemned the deaths of 'innocents,' but at the Selby Centre in Wood Green, north London, on July 22 referred to the 7/7 bombers as the 'fantastic four' and explained that his grief for the 'innocent' applied only to Muslims.

"'Yes I condemn killing any innocent people, but not any kuffar.'"

In an interview about a month later, Omar Bakri Mohammed elaborated on the his interpretation of innocence when he was interviewed in Lebanon:

"(Q) You said that you are against killing innocent people and have nothing to do with the Al-Qaeda Organization. Now you are calling for jihad. How do you explain your position?

"(A) I have often repeated that I am against the killing of innocent people anywhere in the world but who are the innocent? I keep the answer to myself.

"(Q) Who do you define as innocent?

"(A) The innocent people are specified by Islam. I denounce killing innocent people regardless of who kills them. However, who are the innocent? I do not have to explain this issue.

"(Q) Does this mean that you support killing those whom you consider guilty and those whom Islam as you understand it describes as not innocent?

"Mainstream and respected Qur'an commentator, Isma'il bin Amr bin Kathir al Dimashqi (1301-1372), known popularly as Ibn Kathir, declares that sura 9:5 [the last section of the Qur'an to be revealed] 'abrogated every agreement of peace between the Prophet and any idolater, every treaty, and every term....No idolater had an more treaty of promise of safety ever since Surah Bara'ah was revealed.'"

Spencer also points out the following important information (pages 41-42):

"...Sayyid Qutb, one of the twentieth century's foremost adocates of violent jihad, taught (without a trace of irony) that Islam is a religion of peace. However, he had a very specific kind of peace in mind: 'When Islam strives for peace, its objective is not that superficial peace which requires that only that part of the earth where the followers of Islam are residing remain secure. The peace which Islam desires is that the religion (i.e., the law of the society) be purified for God, that the obedience of all people be for God alone, and that some people should not be lords over others. After the period of the Prophet--peace be on him--only the final stages of the movement of Jihaad are to be followed; the initial or middle stages are not applicable.'

"In other words, Islam is a relgion of the peace that will come when everyone is Muslim or at least subject to the Islamic state. And to establish that peace, Muslims must wage war."

"We have the right to kill 4 million Americans, two million of them children."-Abu Gheith, Al-Qaeda spokesman

"If a bomb was dropped on them that would annihilate 10 million and burn their lands…this is permissible."-Sheikh Nasir bin Hamid al-Fahd, prominent Saudi cleric close to Al-Qaeda

"Our march has just begun and Islam will end up conquering Europe and America. . . And let no one think that we are Utopian dreamers."-Sheikh Saeed Shaaban, quoted in L'Orient le jour, Beirut, 19 October 1983

"A believer...who takes up a gun, a dagger, a kitchen knife or even a pebble with which to harm and kill the enemies of the Faith has his place assured in Heaven. An Islamic state is the sum total of such individual believers. An Islamic state is a state of war until the whole world sees and accepts the light of the True Faith."-Ayatollah Fazl-Allah Mahalati, On the Path of Justice, Tehran, 1980, pp. 70-71

Words matter. Pay attention to what the enemy has said. And know the enemy's definitions of the words.

Once you are aware of the subtleties of definitions and of the concept of Sura 9:5, you just might have a different take on this statement from CAIR, posted in 2001, and on the 2005 Fatwah Against Terror.

Saturday, October 08, 2005

"Nuclear science may not be considered ideal subject matter for a popular song, but the musical boffins in Iran's state media apparatus think differently.

"In recent days, Iran's airwaves have been buzzing with two new tunes apparently designed to rally public support for the clerical regime's increasingly tense stand-off with the West over its nuclear ambitions.

"The first song is entitled 'Oriental Sun, Nuclear Science', and sung to a backdrop of military-style marching music by Ali Tafreshi. The second similarly catchy tune is 'Nuclear Know-How"'by Reza Shirazi.

"Both extol the wonders of a 'great and powerful Iran' which has destroyed 'the arrogance of the oppressors' and 'defends its independence by using science'.

"Despite the heavyweight nationalist lyricism, Iran insists its nuclear programme it strictly peaceful. But the West in unconvinced, and the European Union and United States want Iran to abandon its works on the potentially dual use nuclear fuel cycle and are threatening UN Security Council action.

"The songs, produced by Iran's state television and radio apparatus, have therefore been getting good airplay -- and are also accompanying TV clips of atomic facilities used to praise the 'young engineers who have succeeded, without the help of foreigners, to develop the Iranian nuclear programme'."

"And now, reason No. 1,446 that Undersecretary of State Karen Hughes is having a hard time working the crowd in the Muslim world.

"An ad listing Boeing, Bell Helicopter and other companies making the troubled Osprey CV-22 attack helicopter appeared in the National Journal last week. It shows soldiers rappelling from the chopper onto the roof of a building, which says in Arabic on the side, 'Muhammad Mosque.'

"'It descends from the heavens. Ironically it unleashes hell,' the ad touts. 'The CV-22 delivers Special Forces to insertion points never thought possible.'

"Like a mosque?

"The folks at the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), naturally, were furious and protested. Within hours, the companies and the National Journal responded. 'We consider the ad offensive, regret its publication and apologize to those who like us are dismayed with its contents,' Boeing said.

"The companies said they had tried to pull the ad several weeks ago. It ran, National Journal Executive Vice President Elizabeth Baker Keffer told CAIR in an e-mail, 'as the result of a clerical error on our part. We had received specific direction from the agency representing Boeing/Bell to not run the ad. We have apologized to Boeing, their partner Bell and their advertising agency [in Irving, Tex.] for this mistake. We accept full responsibility for the error.'"

Two different governments, with differing perceptions as to what is offensive or dangerous.

Karen Hughes has her work cut out for her--as in the labors of Sisyphus.